Many Irish crossed the Atlantic in pursuit of work, prosperity, adventure, religious tolerance, and freedom. In the mid-1840s, thousands fled their homeland as a result of the potato famine and flocked to New York, Boston, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Savannah, and Chicago. Job discrimination and prejudice did not dissuade the newest Americans from joining the Union army in the Civil War and from helping to rebuild the nation after the war. This book presents their struggles in their native !and, their journeys to America, and their lives in a new land.